Previously, it has been known to use white fir particles, chips, shavings, wheat by-product, grain hulls and shafts, corn, corn starch, wheat gluten, silica gel, polysaccharides, plural particles of a grain-based, substrate, ionic salt, plural particles of a seed meal, ground grains, wheat middling, etc. as a litter for animals. These other materials also are processed through multiple stages for pelletizing and using varying ranges of materials without consistency of what is regularly used as their multiple patent codes indicate, see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,923,005, 4,258,659, 5,884,584, and Worlds Best Cat Litter patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,098,569, 6,216,634, 6,405,677, 6,622,658, 6,868,802. These materials have also traditionally been composed/combined with other additives for odor control and other ingredients to create aesthetic properties for the purchaser of the absorbent material to be used as animal litter. To avoid increasing the materials being deposited into landfills, a material is needed that is biodegradable, compostable and capable of adding nutrients back into the soil and improving the soils texture and water retention capabilities of the soil the litter is deposed at.
Also, the process of pelletization of the exampled invention above is complex and thus expensive, exacts a toll on the extruding equipment used for the pelletizing process, by causing greater amounts of wear on the equipment parts, resulting in the expense of frequent maintenance and replacement and then the addition of “other” products for odor control and aesthetic purposes requires the product to go through multiple transformation from its original base product. Also the processes involved to create these other litters may also be harmful to the employees processing the product but due to the short term these litters have been in manufacturing, the long term effects on employees handling the materials/additives may not be known for many years to come. The pelletization process is also harmful to the environment due to the amount of energy used to process through the complexity of sourcing various components used, the blending, mixing and ultimate pelletizing process. Also, the consistency of the raw materials used on a consistent basis, the source of the material used in many of the pelletized litters and the quality of the raw materials used to compose the final pelletized product is undetermined.
The ultimate disposal of litters such as the example above do not reintroduce nutrients and beneficial characteristics to the soil. They do not create sustainability through improved soil texture, water retention and nutrients.